NFL rolls out promo

Stones to rock 'Monday Night Football'

NEW YORK — It may be harder for critics to call the NFL the No-Fun League this season.

Org has engineered a deal with the Rolling Stones to create a seasonlong promotional campaign for ABC’s “Monday Night Football.”

Campaign will feed off the Sept. 6 release of the Stones’ latest CD, “A Bigger Bang” (Virgin Records). Clips from the Stones’ concert-tour appearance in Detroit will be featured during the Sept. 8 primetime telecast “NFL Opening Kickoff 2005,” a one-hour ABC special preceding the season opener between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders.

Music and video footage from the Stones’ concert tour will run throughout the 2005 season in ABC/NFL promos to generate heat for “Monday Night Football.”

The Stones’ tour begins at Fenway Park in Boston Aug. 21.

The Stones’ participation represents the last hurrah for ABC’s 36 years of presenting “Monday Night Football.” In 2006, “MNF” moves to ABC’s ESPN sibling, which ponied up a record $8.8 billion for an eight-year deal with the NFL.

The broadcast-network primetime telecasts gravitate to NBC in 2006, with a shift to Sunday night. NBC outbid ABC by agreeing to cough up $600 million a year for six years.